Two journalists sentenced to jail for libel

Dubai: Two senior journalists have been jailed for two months each after they were found guilty in a libel case marking what judicial officials described as 'an unusual verdict'.

The Dubai Court of Misdemeanour found the senior Egyptian journalist and senior Indian editor guilty of libelling an Iranian woman.

The Public Prosecution charged the two defendants with publishing a defamatory article in the English newspaper where they work. In her complaint the woman accused the defendants of defaming her after publishing the story.

The article said the woman collected a dowry cheque of Dh83,000 which bounced when she went to cash it. She thereafter filed a police complaint against her divorcee. The court found the defendants guilty though they pleaded innocent.

Gulf News has learnt that defence lawyer Samir Jaafar is planning to appeal the initial verdict today. The ruling is still subject to appeal.

A former judge who requested anonymity described the ruling as 'uncommon and unusual especially in the UAE'.

Fined

"I have heard of journalists getting fined but not jailed. This is very unusual here in the UAE and especially in Dubai," said the former judge.

In 2004, the Dubai Court of First Instance sentenced Kuwaiti national, Ahmad Jarallah, Editor-in-Chief of Al Seyassah, Kuwaiti newspaper, to six months in jail and Saudi national, Othman Al Umair, former editor-in-chief of e-newspaper www.elaph.com. The two were convicted of running defamatory news against a former Miss Lebanon accusing her of having sex with a UAE businessman for thousands of dollars.

Mohammad Yousuf, Chairman of UAE Journalists Association, said this ruling is the first of its kind against journalists working in local media. "We do not want to comment on the ruling which we respect. However, we would like to say this proves our repeated calls for cancelling imprisonment verdicts against journalists in libel cases as it terrorises them from doing their jobs."